Waking Up
by Remus Loves Tonks
Summary: "It felt to Ginny as if she'd finally woken up." A bit of brotherly fluff. Fred and George help Ginny feel better following the aftermath of the debacle in the Chamber of Secrets. One-shot.


**A/N: I was literally in the middle of typing a sentence in the new chapter of one of my other stories when inspiration struck and I had to jot it down. So I opened another Word document, and here we are. So, as you know, I absolutely adore Fred and George, and I like the idea of brotherly fluff, especially with Ginny. Dunno why, I just do. So, I thought this would be cute.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, Fred and I would have gotten married. **

Ginny Weasley sat alone on a bench outside the Headmaster's office. She was waiting for her parents to be done talking to Dumbledore alone, and mentally cursing her luck.

It was all her fault that Harry and Ron had nearly died. It was her fault that all those people had been petrified. She'd painted those messages on the walls in blood. She'd set the Heir of Slytherin's monster on the Muggle-borns and Filch's cat.

And she didn't remember a moment of it.

The last few months were basically a big black stretch. There were very few things she remembered, and the thought of that scared her a lot. Without realizing it, she started to cry.

She sat alone for a few more minutes, tears rolling down her face, before she heard loud footsteps coming towards her rapidly. It sounded like more than one person, but they weren't talking. She sniffled once, and lifted her head when the footsteps stopped in front of her.

Gazing down at her with identical looks of concern and distress on their faces were Fred and George.

Not being able to hold herself back anymore, Ginny let out something between squeal and a sob and buried her face in her hands, crying.

"Hey, it's okay! What's wrong?" asked Fred in an alarmed voice. She felt as her twin brothers sat down on either side of her.

"It's all my f-f-fault!" she wailed, sobbing against Fred's shoulder with George's arm around her.

"What is, love?" asked George kindly.

"I'm the reason all those people were petrified! And that Harry and Ron almost—almost d-d-died!" she exclaimed, dissolving into sobs once more.

Fred's hand was rubbing soothing circles into her back and George was patting her shoulder absentmindedly. Ginny pretended she didn't know that a silent conversation was going on via raised eyebrows and facial expressions.

"Look, Gin, I'm sure it couldn't possibly be your fault, I mean, if you feel guilty about—," began George, but Ginny cut him off.

Sitting up straight again, she wiped her eyes, and launched into a shuddering recount of the past few months, as told to her by Professor Dumbledore.

When she finished, no one said a word for several shocked seconds. _I've never heard silence quite this loud_, mused Ginny, nearly smiling.

"So—so, this diary…talked to you? And you talked back? And then it…possessed you?" asked Fred incredulously. Ginny nodded miserably. Fred whistled, shocked, trying to understand what exactly had happened to his baby sister.

After a moment, he leaned over and pulled her into a bone-crushing bear hug.

"Ginny, I don't ever want you to feel that you have to turn to some unknown, mysterious artifact because no one will listen, do you understand me? We will always be here for you, no matter what, okay? Please don't ever be possessed by Voldemort again," whispered Fred into Ginny's ear. He tucked a few limp tendrils of hair behind her ear, noticing that the tips were stained black from the ink she'd said had bled from the diary. He wiped a few more of her tears away with his sleeve, and George took her hand in his. They sat like that for a few more minutes before the doors opened and Professor Dumbledore strode out, accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.

Molly Weasley's heart melted when she saw her troublemaking twins comforting their baby sister.

"Ah, yes, would you two perhaps escort your sister up to your dormitories so she can get cleaned up? We have just a bit more to discuss with your brother and Mr. Potter," said Dumbledore kindly, gesturing to the three red-heads.

Fred and George nodded and helped Ginny to her feet. They set off toward Gryffindor Tower, both of Ginny's arms looped through one of each of her brothers'.

Fred and George shared a knowing glance, then both lifted their respective arms simultaneously, so that Ginny's feet left the ground, just like they always had when she was little and would follow them around constantly. She squealed in surprise and delight, then grinned for the first time in six months.

It felt to Ginny as if she'd finally woken up.

**A/N: Random, and not as good as I'd hoped, but it's fluffy, cute, and I'm too tired to revise. Anywho, please review and tell me what you think!**


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